Crossing the Border
by Climber Falls
Summary: Amber runs away from her abusive mother and crosses the border known as Animal Crossing. She expected a new home, but what she didn't expect was falling in love. Rated T for swearing. Don't read it if that bothers you. Reviews are welcome!
1. Run and Hide

I hug my knees as a torch light searches the room. My dark brown hair lies across my face, damp with blood and sweat. The corner of the room I am in is dark and uncomfortable. I am scared. I squeeze the small bear in my hands. I pray silently.

The tears roll down my cheeks and the cut under my left eye begins to sting as the salty tears roll into it, one after the other.

The torch light passes just in front of my feet and I squeeze further back into the corner. I hide the bear under an old torn patch of carpet. The torch light passes over me.

I gulp. A face is shoved into my line of vision and I scream. The woman in front of me grins and grips my arm, yanking me out of my hiding place.

"There you are you little bitch! You didn't honestly think you could hide from Mommy, did you?" She laughs at me, a hoarse, evil laugh, and I can smell the whiskey on her breath. She grips me harder and I scream out in pain. She just laughs.

"What made you think you could hide from me? You're a no-one. You're a no-one, Amberlyn May!"

I cry as she strikes at my face again and again. Her words hurt, but not as much as her blows.

"Mommy, please! I'm sorry!"

She takes a hold of my hair and slams my head against the wooden cupboard next to me.

"Liar! You're a fucking lying bitch!"

She drops me on the ground and I can feel the blood trickling from my forehead. She walks out and leaves me. I crawl across the floor, my vision blurry from tears and blood. I grab the small bear and hug him.

"We're leaving Gunner. I'm packed and ready."

I reach under the bed and pull out a small dirty backpack.

Not being fed forced me to learn to steal. Something I was very good at now.

There were two water bottles in the bag, as well as an apple and a piece of bread.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and picked up a large stick that I had brought in from the garden. I stand at the window. It is dark and I am afraid. I squeeze gunner.

I know as soon I smash the window I'll need to run.

I grip the stick tighter and swing it forward, using every ounce of strength in my thirteen-year-old body.

Crash!

The window shatters into a million pieces and I launch myself out.

The stones dig into my feet when I touch the ground, but my feet are tough.

"Amberlyn, you little bitch!"

I spin around.

Mom is at the window, her blonde hair whipping around her face, her bloodshot-blue eyes scorching.

Run Amberlyn. Run as fast as you can.

The thoughts scream at me and I obey.

I run as fast as I can, across the sharp stones. I don't know where I'm going. I'm just running.

The tears blind me and I can hardly see at all. That's when I reach the edge of the cliff.

I stumble off of the edge and freefall. My surroundings flash by me as I twist and turn in the air. I squeeze Gunner and as my body hits the icy river below, I black out.


	2. Welcome to Tressia

I can feel someone nudging me gently.

"Hey, are you alive? Wake up, wuh!" Someone pokes me again.

A gentle girly voice speaks softly.

"Walker you don't think… you don't think she's dead do you, woof?"

"Don't talk like that sis! Besides, wuh, you can see her breathing."

I feel someone gently take my hand and whisper.

"My name is Goldie, woof. If you can hear me, squeeze my paw."

I squeeze gently.

Wait…. Paw?

My eyes snap open. A golden retriever sits next to me. She has tawny patches scattered across her fur. A Labrador sits next to her. He is black and white with interesting blue eyes. A large grin breaks across his face.

"Good morning sleeping beauty! I'm Walker, this is my sister Goldie. What's your name, wuh?"

I sit up dumbfounded.

Goldie nudges Walker.

"She doesn't know animals can talk. She's only new here, woof."

"Oh right."

The golden Labrador stands up and offers a paw. I take it cautiously and I stand up. She smiles.

"I don't bite you know. And as my brother mentioned before, I'm Goldie. Animals can't talk in your part of the town but in this part we can, woof."

I frown.

"Um… What do you mean?"

Goldie looks up to the cliff I've come from.

"Your half of the town is called Stalie, right? The border that separates us is known as the Animal Crossing, woof. If you cross that border and are knocked unconscious, you are brought into our town, which we call Tressia. You can only go back to your world if you recross the border, which is on that cliff, woof."

I think about this for a moment. That means that my mother would never find me here. This was perfect.

Goldie looks at me and smiles, her chocolate eyes dancing.

"So, what's your name?"

"I'm Amberlyn. Or you can call me Amber if you like."

I push my wet hair away from my eyes. A shocked expression crosses the two dogs' faces.

My eyes widen.

"What? What did I do?"

Walker opens his mouth to say something but Goldie jumps in.

"Nothing, it's fine. Let's just take you to your house, woof."

She takes my hand and pulls me along.


	3. The Girl in the Mirror

We stop at a small house. It has an apple green roof and there is not much room on the inside. Goldie blushes and explains why it's so small.

"They're all built like this but once you pay off your mortgage it'll get a whole lot bigger. Everyone starts off with the same stuff. We get a tape deck, a cardboard box for a table and a candle for light."

I walk over to the candle. There are no lighters or matches anywhere.

"Um… How am I supposed to light this?"

Goldie looks up at me. She still has the same shocked expression on her face from the river. I frown. She smiles but I can still see the frightened expression in her eyes. I frown.

"What?"

Her eyes widen and she walks over to me quickly.

"It's nothing. You wanted to know how to light the candle right, woof? We don't need matches for that. We just do this, woof." She waves a paw over the wick of the candle and it bursts into flame.

I stare at the candle and wave my hand over it. The flame disappears as if a wind has blown it out. I grin broadly. The cuts on my face stretch and the pain is unbearable. But I hardly notice it. It's the first time I've smiled in a few years. I turn to Goldie. She's biting down on her bottom lip and it looks like she's trying to chew it off.

"Goldie you're gonna bite your lip right off if you keep doing that. Now what's the matter?"

Goldie looks at me and pulls out a pocket mirror.

"Look at yourself Amber."

I take the mirror and look, unsure of what I'm going to look like. I've never used a mirror in five years.

A girl with wild, knotted brown hair stares back at me, her face cover with scars, bruises, scratches and cuts. But that's not the scary part. One of the girl's eyes is a normal dark chocolaty colour, but the other is a bright pale blue, almost white.

A shock runs threw me and I gasp, dropping the mirror. It shatters into a million pieces, each one reflecting the wild frightened girl.


	4. First Sight

The light from the window floats in reflects off of the shards of the mirror. The wild girl stares up at me and I instinctively reach for Gunner.

Gunner.

Where was he?

My hands throw the backpack off of me and the glass crunches underneath the weight of it. I hit my knees and the glass cuts into it, but that's nothing compared to the pain I've been through before. I rummage through the bag, throwing things over my shoulder. No, no, no….

No Gunner.

My eyes widen with fear. Goldie places a paw in my back and I burst into tears. A knock on the door interrupts my tears and I twist around as a tall boy pulls the door open. He grins crookedly and his honey golden eyes sparkle. He spots Goldie comforting me and his smile disappears. He wanders over to me.

"What happened?" His velvet voice rings through my ears. He kneels next to me and the glass crunches under his steel-cap boots.

Goldie turns towards him, a worried expression on her face.

"Her name's Amberlyn. She's from Stalie, just like you."

"She's from Stalie?" He asked, gently lifting my head up. He winced when he saw my face and I burst in to tears again. I dropped my fringe over my eyes and hid my cuts.

"Hey don't cry!" He lifted my head up again and moved my hair away from my forehead.

He reaches behind himself and pulls out a small stuffed bear.

"Is this yours? It's got your name on it."

He hands me the bear. My name is scribbled on its label.

Gunner.

I hug him to my chest.

The boy leans forward and delicately traces each of my scars. He bites his lip and tilts his head to the side. I can see a long scar running across the side of his eye. He lets my hair fall.

"What happened to you?"

I sigh and drop my eyes to the floor.

"I guess I should start at the beginning…"


	5. Right from the Beginning

I can feel the boy's eyes on me. He's making me nervous. I turn to Goldie; her milk-chocolate eyes are filled with concern.

The glass on the floor is pushing its way through my tattered jeans. I pull out a few shards. My jeans are still wet from the river. The boy looks at me anxiously. He's waiting. His honey eyes are a mix of confusion and concern.

I begin my story. I start right from the beginning.

"When I was little, my family and I lived in the bushlands of Stalie. We were a happy family, my Dad, my Mom, my older sister… and me. It snowed up there and we were so happy. We played in the snow and laughed. Like a normal, happy family. We would go down to the beach and would build huge sandcastles and play in the water. Every second weekend we camp out in the forest. Every Thursday, me and my sister would get a treat. An ice-cream or a lollipop… It was always something sweet. My sister and I were the best of friends. Always telling each other secrets, playing and sharing lollies… But then… things don't always stay the way you want them do they? One day…. My Dad got sick. Mom looked for someone to blame and pinned it on me and my sister. Dad would watch from his room as Mom blamed us for every little thing. When Dad got better, he left. Mom starting drinking really heavily, shot after shot of whiskey and grappa…" I shiver at the memory and the boy gently places a hand on my shoulder. I continue, "Then Mom started abusing us. I would hide under my bed the moment I heard her open the bottle of alcohol. Because I knew what would come next. My sister copped the worst of it, as she was always protecting me… I'd seen her bruises. I knew what had caused them. Mom's fingers were always the exact same length and shape of the bruises twisting around her arms. My sister accidently broke one of Mom's china plates. Mom hit her again and again with a branch off of a tree. I would hide under my bed, hearing my sister screams and the whoosh of air behind the branch. I would cry and cry. The tears were salty and they stung my cuts. That would always make me cry even more. One night, my sister woke me up, telling me that she was going to run away. We had both learnt to steal, because, as much as we hated doing it, it kept us fed and alive. She had stolen food and water. She asked me to come with her. But I didn't. I was too scared. I was frightened that Mom would catch me. She gave me a small stuffed bear and wrote my name on its label. "His name is Gunner. He'll be your friend. Goodbye Amber." She jumped out of my window and ran. I watched her disappear into the bushes. For ages I wished I had followed. The next morning, Mom went wild, asking where my sister was. I lied to her and told her I didn't know. She slapped me and smashed her glass on the ground. I was frightened and tried to run. She tripped me and the right side of my face landed on the glass. I was constantly hit. This went on for three years. Yesterday, Mom got really drunk. She brought a broken glass to me head and managed a small cut as I jumped away. I ran and hid in the corner of the room. Mom found me and swore at me. She pulled me out of my hiding spot and grabbed my hair. She slammed me against the cupboard and left me on the floor. When she walked out, I grabbed my backpack. I was already prepared to run away. There was a stick under the bed and I broke the window with it and jumped out. I ran away and made it to the cliff. I fell off of the edge and woke up here, in Tressia. That's my story…"

My lip quivers and the tears start rolling. Goldie hugs me gently and the boy is still there, his hand on my shoulder. His eyes are filled with nothing except sorrow and worry. His left eye is harder, as the scar is rough and jagged, like he's had stiches.

Goldie smells like apples, but there is the faint smell of dog there too. The boy smells like chocolate.

I look up at him.

"So what's your story, Mr. No-Name?"

He smiles gently.

"My name's Riley. I'll tell you my story some other time." He frowns, "What was your sister's name?"

I look up.

"Her name was Teo, which was short for Teodora. Our family had a thing for long names."

Goldie looks up at Riley, her eyes full of shock and amusement.

"Riley, you don't think…?"

Riley grins.

"There's only one way to find out. Let's go!"


	6. A Reunion

Riley takes my hand and drags me along and I can't help but think about how nice his skin feels against mine. His chocolate smell was all around me, but Goldie's apple-and-dog smell was a lot stronger. A voice breaks my thoughts and my head snaps up.

"Goldie! Watcha doing!"

I twist around and Riley pulls up next to me. A girl with flame red hair runs up to us. Her dark eyes are playful and flirty, and she's grinning so wide it looks like her face is going to break. Goldie smiles at her.

"Tanya! Playful as ever I see. This is Amber…." She gestures to me with her paw.

Tanya grins.

"I'm Tanya Carita Grace!" She grins even wider and hugs me tight. I wince as she accidently squeezes my bruises and cuts.

"Um… I'm Amberlyn Rose May…."

"OhMiGosh, that is like SO COOL! Hey, howdja get that nasty cut on your face?"

"Which cut are you talking about?" I ask without thinking.

She frowns.

"Watcha mean?"

I blush and look down.

"Um…"

Riley steps in next to me.

"You'll have to be gentle with this one Tanya. Look." He gently lifts up my fringe, which is covering most of my cuts and my blind eye.

She leaps back a little.

"OhMiGosh, like, what happened to your eye? OhMiGosh, Riley's eye is damaged too, like yours only, you know, not as bad!"

She grins at me and I scowl. Riley is standing in front of me though and Tanya doesn't see this. Goldie does though and nudges Riley, who then turns and see's my scowl.

"Uh… Tanya we gotta go…"

"Ok then, bye Riley and Goldie! Seeya later Amberlyn Rose May!" She runs off.

Riley drags me along again.

"Sorry for showing her your scars and stuff…" He whispers gently, "I know you don't like talking about it… Sorry…"

He intertwines his fingers into mine and I blink.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

Riley pulls his hand out of mine and blushes. For some reason I blush too.

Goldie stops outside of a house with a lilac-purple roof. She points to the sign.

"Read this, Amber."

I lean forward.

The sign reads: Teodora's House.

My eyes widen. Could this be my sister's house?

I knock on the door.

"Come in!" A musical voice shouts back.

I pull the door open and find myself face to face with a girl. She has light brown hair and dancing green eyes. She is beautiful. And just like me, she is covered with scars. I can see scars on face, neck and arms.

The scars on her arms are familiar.

I know who this girl is now.

"Teo…" I whisper breathlessly.


	7. First Time in Years

**This is short but I can't think of anything so… help?**

The plate in my sister's hand slipped and clattered to the floor. She reached out to me.

"Amber… Amber is that you?" She reached out and touched my face. "What happened to you? How can you be here? Oh, forget all the mushy stuff." She lunged forward and hugged me tight. I hugged her back and began to cry.

My sister, my sister, my sister!

She was right here. And she was alive and well.

"Stop being such a wuss! Gosh, you always were sensitive." She scolded me and I began to laugh through the tears.

Jeez it sounded like I was hysterical or something.

She grinned at me and I grinned back, the cuts on my face stretching.

She tilted her head and looked behind me.

"Goldie, Riley… Thanks so much for bringing my little sister back to me. Sit down; I'll get everyone something to eat."

I sat down on one of the purple couches in what appeared to be the living room.

Goldie and Riley grinned at me. And I, even though it hurt a LOT, burst out into random laughter.

Goldie grinned wider and then, she too, let out a sharp bark of laughter.

Riley rolled his eyes and looked at the two of us.

"You two are such idiots."

Then he busted up. He shook with laughter and fell to his knees clutching at his stomach.

All three of us rolled on the ground, roaring with laughter. It had been years since I had laughed like this.


	8. Now I've Done It

As we all lay in a heap on my sisters purple carpet, we finally stopped laughing. Riley sat up and grinned at me.

"Had enough excitement for the day, Miss Amberlyn Rose May?"

I giggled.

"Maybe…" A delicious smell wafted in, "But there's about to be more because I smell cinnamon baked apples." I licked my lips and ran into the room where the smell was coming from. The kitchen was a mixture of green and silver and there was a vase full of white tulips and pansies in the middle of a green table. I smiled.

My sister turned away from the oven and grinned at me. I grinned back at her, glad to see my sister again. She was now wearing a red apron over her purple outfit. She wandered over to me and looked me over. She raised an eyebrow.

"Jeez sis, you're a mess. Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

I shuddered lightly at the memory of the frightened girl in the mirror.

"Actually yeah, Goldie's compact mirror."

My sister rolled her eyes. No I meant a full length mirror. I have one in my bedroom." She yanked me to her room. It was pink and purple like the lounge room and was really tiny, but it was bigger than the closet sized bedroom we had had to share back in Stalie.

Teo pulled me to the side and I found myself face to face with the frightened girl once more. I nearly screamed out, but my sister's hand on me made me remember that it was just me. I was covered in scars and bruises and my eye definitely wasn't too pretty. I glanced down at the clothes I was wearing. Scratch that, the rags I was wearing. I was covered in blood and dirt and the t-shirt and jeans I was wearing were torn in many places. I began to blush as I realised my ripped t-shirt wasn't covering much and instinctively folded my arms across my chest.

My sister laughed and handed something to me. I unfolded it and realised it was some clothes. I grinned at her and she left the room for me to get changed.

I looked in the mirror again. I didn't look too bad now. I was now wearing a black singlet with a yellow jacket. The black jeans were long and a bit too big. But my hair was still a mess. Oh well. I shrugged. I walked out of my sister's room and found Riley and Goldie sitting at the green table with a mint-green squirrel. The squirrel took a sip from a white mug and chatted smoothly. She looked up at me, gave me a quick once over and raised an eyebrow. I gulped.

My sister came out of no-where and shoved a brush in my hand I mumbled quick thanks and started to rip it through my hair. I winced constantly, but after around ten minutes and seven looks from the squirrel, my hair was smoothed and the curls were softer. I went to go sit down, but my sister handed me a can of deodorant first.

"Trust me." She mouthed.

I sighed and went back down the hallway and quickly sprayed the deodorant on. I bounded back out and sat down at the table. The squirrel looked at me again and raised her eyebrows again. I gulped and quickly grabbed a bowl of ice-cream. I placed a cinnamon apple into it and carefully took a bite. The squirrel turned to my sister.

"So Dora," She purred, "Have you started taking in people from the "lower class"?" I bit my lip as I tried to hold back the words that were flooding in my mouth.

Goldie saw my glare and nudged Riley. Riley glanced my way and bit his lip.

"Uh… Mint, maybe you should be careful about what you say…"

Mint rolled her dark eyes and shrugged. She pulled out a compact makeup case and applied some peach coloured blush. She looked up at me and smiled.

"At least people in the "upper class" take care of their personal hygiene."

That did it.

I rooted myself to the chair and snapped at her.

"At least I don't wear pancake makeup!"

Mint sat there dumbfounded and Riley slapped his hand to his forehead. My sister nearly dropped her fork. Goldie's jaw nearly touched the table.

_Shit..._ I thought to myself. _Now I've really done it…_


End file.
